A Closer Monk and Natalie
by grillowslover01
Summary: I just had this thought. There's a twist at the end. MonkNatalie
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Natalie arrived at Adrian's apartment at around 9:30 AM. Since his 'death' he was a little lenient with her coming in late. It was his own way of apologizing to her for not letting her know he was really still alive. Natalie appreciated it, but she wanted something else that she wasn't quite sure of.

"Mr. Monk." she yelled as she walked through the door. She looked in the kitchen then across the hall to the living room. He wasn't there. Natalie began to panic but then calmed when she heard him yell from his bedroom.

"Natalie I'm in here." She ran to the door to make sure he was really there and to chastise him for not answering her sooner.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked kneeling beside him. He was kneeling in front of his dresser searching for something.

"I've lost something and I'm looking for it." he said matter-of-factly. He continued to look for whatever he was searching for.

"What is it? I can help you." She said kneeling in front of the dresser.

"I can't tell you but thank you. You can start here." He replied not looking at her and pointing to the drawer beside him.

"How am I…" Natalie yelled at first, but stopped, took a deep breath and started over, "How am I suppose to know what I am looking for?"

"You'll know when you see it." He said still not looking at her.

Natalie rolled her eyes and began looking through the drawer. A few moments later they heard a knock on his door.

"Natalie can you answer that?" He asked. They exchanged looks and he dutifully got up and answered the door.

Natalie continued to look through the drawer. She reached back behind the pile of neatly folded clothes and felt something cold. She pulled her hand back slightly but then reached back in. She pulled out the chain and noticed something very familiar at the end. It was a pair of dog tags. 'Whose are these?' she asked herself. She ran her fingers over the letters and numbers. 'Adrian Monk' she read out loud, 'Oh my God. He was in the Air Force.' Natalie looked at the dog tags and back at the door.

"Natalie did you find anything?" Monk yelled from the hallway. Natalie panicked and threw the tags down her shirt. She gasped as the coldness touched her breast. "Are you ok?" He asked seeing her clutch her chest.

"Yeah I'm fine." She said catching her breath. "It's just a little hot in here." she started fanning herself while Monk still had a confused look on his face. 

"Ok…Oh Natalie you found it." Monk said kneeling to the floor.

"Found what? I didn't find anything." she said putting her hand invisibly over the tags.

"Trudy's diary." Monk said almost in a whisper. He raised up from the floor and walked over to Natalie. "Thank you so much." Monk said and pulled her in for a hug. Natalie couldn't resist and it hit her right then. She didn't want a few extra hours of sleep in the morning. This was what she wanted. To be close to Adrian Monk. She felt something inside of her, the same thing she felt when she found out he wasn't really dead and drove all the way to Nevada, and when she hugged him tightly not wanting to let go. The way he held her reminded her of Mitch. Which reminded her of the secret dog tags she had just found in Adrian's dresser. She had to know what he was hiding but she didn't want this moment to end. God only knows when another moment would happen. But she had to know.

"Mr. Monk?"

He pulled away quickly and looked to the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he said covering his face. "I was…uh just…"

"No Mr. Monk," Natalie interjected, "I need to ask you something." she unbuttoned one of the buttons of her shirt to enable her to pull out the tags.

"Natalie we just hugged. I think this is going a little too…" Monk began shielding his eyes. Natalie interrupted him again.

"Mr. Monk I found these in your dresser." she pulled out the tags. "Mr. Monk look." he still had his eyes covered. Natalie looked down at her shirt, sighed, and buttoned up her one button. "Ok now look."

He very slowly uncovered his eyes and looked at her. "Oh." was all he said. Natalie walked towards him getting closer to him. "They say Adrian Monk." they said his name at the same time. "Are they yours?"

He was silent for a moment but then broke the silence. "I joined after I finished college. Trudy didn't want me too but I did it anyway."

"Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were close friends." Natalie got a little closer to him and inside thanked herself for saying friends.

"Well I didn't really think you would care." Monk said backing away. The Captain told Monk how rough she was on him when she found out about their secret.

"I wouldn't care? Mitch was in the service, and besides I really do care about you. More than you think." she said not wanting to say the last sentence out loud but when she did she covered her mouth. "I'm sorry." she said moving back away from him.

Adrian looked at her surprised at first but then calmly. "Me too." he replied.

"I'll understand if you want me to leave." she said walking by him and replacing the tags with her purse on the bed.

"Natalie wait." he stopped her when she was at the door. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes, "I care about you too." he said and kissed her lightly on the lips. He pulled away but Natalie pulled him back this time kissing him passionately. 

"I love you Adrian." Natalie said breathlessly and kissed him again.

"Hey congratulations you two." Stottlemeyer walked up from behind them and patted them both on the back. 

"When did you get here?" Natalie asked pulling away quickly.

"I was the knock at the door." Stottlemeyer said knocking on the bedroom door.

"Wait…so this was all an act? You weren't really in the Air Force?" Natalie asked turning to Adrian. He nodded but the look in his eyes told her that he really did care for her.

"We had to get you two together somehow. Both of you were driving me crazy." Stottlemeyer chuckled and walked off. 

"I really need to keep you two away from each other." Natalie smiled and pulled Monk in for yet another fiery kiss.


	2. Author's Notes

Thanks for all the reviews. I wasn't planning on continuing the story but if you want me to just send me a PM. And there was a question about Natalie being rough on Stott. I was talking about her beating him when she found out Monk was really alive, on Mr. Monk is On The Run Part II.


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